Snakes. Rats. No Water. No Power. This Couple Guarded a Remote Island 32 Years for $500.

Four groups were sent to Kaishan Island before him. The longest anyone lasted was thirteen days. Wang Jicai arrived in July 1986. He was twenty-six years old. His wife didn't know he was gone. He had a newborn daughter at home. His commanding officer gave him six cigarettes and thirty small bottles of liquor before he boarded the boat — not as a celebration. As a practical measure. The island was a strip of rock in the Yellow Sea. Size of two football fields. No fresh water. No electricity. No trees. No neighbors. Just stone, wind, rats, snakes, and at night — complete darkness. His annual salary: $500. He stayed for thirty-two years. Forty-eight days after he arrived, his wife Wang Shihua found out where he was and came to the island. She saw a man she barely recognized — thin, beard to his chest, skin burned black. She said: if others don't want to guard this island, let's not guard it either. Let's go home. He said: guarding the island is guarding the home. She went back to the mainland. Quit her job as a schoolteacher. Left their daughter with her mother-in-law. And came back. She stayed for thirty-two years too. Their combined annual salary: $500. Not enough to cover school fees for three children. Their eldest daughter dropped out at thirteen to look after her siblings. Their son's university tuition was paid with loans. Wang Jicai missed his parents' funerals. He missed his daughter's wedding. He never asked to be transferred. Every morning at 7am — raise the flag. Every evening — lower it. Walk all 208 steps across the island. Inspect 78 barracks. Record sea conditions. Repeat. Every single day for over eleven thousand days. During a typhoon in 1987, Wang Shihua went into labor. No boat could reach them. Wang Jicai delivered his son himself — following instructions from a radio in the storm. He named the boy Zhiguo — meaning "aspire for the nation." Smugglers once offered him 100,000 yuan — thirty years of their combined salary — to use the island as a staging point. He said: I will not allow you to dirty this country's territory. They beat him. He filed the report anyway. On July 27, 2018, Wang Jicai collapsed on the steps of Kaishan Island and died. He was fifty-eight. He died on duty. Ten days later, his wife submitted an application to take over his position. Their son — born on the island, delivered by his father's hands — joined the naval forces. He guards the same coastline now. The flag still goes up every morning. ⏱ Watch until the end — the $500 detail will change how you see everything. 👇 Would you have stayed? Tell us honestly below.